Costa Rica has released a country brand aimed at differentiating its produce in the marketplace and helping marketers communicate its values.

“Our country brand, essential Costa Rica, is a promotional and positioning tool to highlight Costa Rica and its companies around the world,” Gloriana Castro, country brand manager, said in a press release. “It projects a serious image of the country and protects its reputation.”

This new brand builds on Costa Rica’s more than 70 years of experience and status as an outstanding produce exporter.

“The produce industry has long recognized Costa Rica for its best practices and we’ve earned a reputation for quality and reliability throughout the world,” Maykool Lopez, New York director for Procomer, Costa Rica’s trade promotion entity, added in the press release. “Our producers are exceedingly prepared in the food-safety area and compliant with a variety of food-safety certifications, including FSMA and GlobalGAP. essential Costa Rica gives us and the markters of our products a tool to differentiate our competitiveness and quality.”

More than just a marketing campaign, the brand requires a company to complete a licensing process to be able to use it.

“Costa Rican produce exporters carrying the country brand on their products have proven they have the five brand values of essential Costa Rica,” Castro said. “These are Excellence, Sustainability, Innovation, Social Progress and Costa Rican origin. Carrying the country brand makes the companies more competitive because these values are highly appreciated by international buyers.”

Produce marketers can utilize the essential Costa Rica brand to connect to the core values of today’s consumer.

“In addition to wanting quality produce, many of today’s consumers also want to know their spending supports something positive in the area of sustainabilty and social development,” Lopez said.

Currently, 97 exporting companies use essential Costa Rica, including 27 in the food industry and 12 in the agricultural sector.

“The country brand can be used only by companies operating from Costa Rica,” said Castro. “Our goal in 2016 is to have 180 export companies of different sizes and different sectors using the country brand.”

To assist importers and buyers in accessing all Costa Rica has to offer, ProComer has recently launched a new catalogue of products.

“The catalogue brings together a diverse group of Costa Rican exporters applying the highest quality standards,” said Lopez. “Each product has key facts designed to assist in purchasing decisions including a company overview, a general description of the product, product technical specifications, international certifications and contact information. There is also a photo of the product as packed.”

The catalogue can be requested from ProComer’s offices or accessed on-line. For more information on using the essential Costa Rica brand, accessing the catalogue or other questions pertaining to Costa Rican products, contact Maykool Lopez at 212.967.0051 or [email protected].